It’s been crazy busy around here lately, thus the lack of blog posts. I’ve turned in a synopsis to my agent for a YA book I’d love to write, I’ve been tossing around some ideas for changes to a proposal for the third Venus book (yay!), and, frankly, I’ve been reading.
My Darling Daughter recommended Maria V. Snyder’s series, beginning with Poison Study
Anyway, on to our Friday 5 for today…my favorite blogs! I read blogs for lots of different reasons, but the main one is entertainment. If I learn something along the way, great, but mostly I just like to be entertained. Call me shallow.
1) Post Secret – This is my all-time, can’t-miss-it, favorite blog ever. Maybe because it’s only updated once a week so it’s not hard to keep up with. Maybe it’s the slightly voyeuristic feel of the blog, after all you’re reading people’s deepest secrets. I’ve also discovered it’s great for characterization ideas. I keep a folder on my computer of saved secrets, secrets that I think might one day help flesh out a character in a book. When I create a new character, then, I go through the secrets I’ve saved. Often just the right one pops up to give me some insight.
2) Found Cameras and Orphan Pictures – I’m not sure what got me started on this blog, where people can report their finding of a camera or memory card with pictures, etc., and they’ll post a picture or two with an explanation of where the pictures were found hoping to reunite the camera/pictures with their true owner. It’s kind of fun to see the pics posted and imagine the stories behind them. Plus, I’d really love to recognize someone I know some day and help them get their pictures back.
3) One Sentence- This is a fun blog to read. People post 1-sentence stories (and you thought Twitter’s 140-character limit was bad!). Like Jen, who posted, “The first person to congratulate us on our engagement was a homeless guy who then proceeded to ask us for a dollar.” or Francy who posted most poignantly, “On especially quiet mornings I jolt awake because I am reminded of the morning I wasn’t awoken by your tiny cries.” Jumping off points for story ideas? A bit of characterization? I save a lot of these also. I’d never use them verbatim, of course, but they do spark something inside me, much like the emotions I feel for a song on occasion.
4) Romancing the Blog – This is a recent re-discovery for me. I used to read it all the time, and even contributed a couple of times. The blog covers so much about the romance genre that you’re never bored. Contributors talk about Book Clubs, Social Media, and The Digital Revolution. You can’t go wrong with Romancing the Blog!
5) Worst Review Ever – Okay, I don’t read Alexa Young’s new blog just because I WON! But I did win. Who else can say that their crappiest review ever earned them a $100 gift card? Really, I should thank the douche guy who used such descriptive phrases as “Oprah’s uterus” and ”Helen Fielding’s afterbirth” to offer criticism of Venus Envy
But anyway, seriously, read this blog…as a reader you might appreciate how difficult it can be to be a writer sometimes. I mean, it’s not that we don’t expect bad reviews. Not everyone is going to love our books, that’s a fact. But sometimes the “reviews” drift away from really reviewing the actual content of the books and become author-bashing (usually by people who have never met us) or just plain ridiculous. Most authors would be happy for some constructive criticism, but what some people consider “constructive” is amazing to me. As a writer, published or unpublished, it’s fun to have others to commiserate with. Or to read reviews that are worse than yours, because it might make you feel a bit better. 
So, there you have my Friday 5 for today! What are your favorite blogs to read? I’m always looking for more blogs with which to procrastinate enrich my mind.
~ Shannon
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmm…is it self-serving to tell you about my own blog? lol Probably, but I’m gonna mention it anyway. I run a YA blog called Want My YA http://www.wantmyya.blogspot.com
If you’re more into Romance novels, there’s my friend’s blog Crave More Romance. I used to assist with CMR, but I’ve gotten so busy with my own that I haven’t been able to help out lately. http://www.cravemoreromance.blogspot.com
Unfortunately I’m more of a blog jumper than a devoted reader. I try, but I have internet induced ADD (like how I just made that one up there?). I flit from page to page and I tend to forget to go back. I mostly like reading the blogs of authors and publishers. It’s nice to know what’s coming up and sometimes there are some cool contests going on.
Heather, thanks for the recommendations! (And, no, it’s not self-serving to recommend your own blog…if we didn’t no one would ever find our blogs! LOL!) I’ll definitely check it out.
Come back and check mine out once in a while. Never know what you might find here. I LOVE YA, too!
Have you checked out drunk writer talk? And chasing heroes? Love ‘em both.
I’ll check both out! Thanks, Eileen!